Debut or Die

‘Did Park Moondae change his name?’

I didn’t like the feeling of my backbone tightening.

Anyway, I shouldn’t look awkward. I immediately picked up the microphone and said.

“…I’ve always been Park Moondae since the register of my birth.”

“Hahaha!”

The MC’s reaction was good.

This was true.

‘As soon as I entered this body, I took off a copy of the resident registration, the draft, and even the family relationship certificate.’

I wasn’t stupid, that kind of thing was only natural.

I’d looked for all the factors that might cause a problem.

Park Moondae continued to live under this name, and there were no other peculiarities. Except for the high school dropout thing that he wrote down himself, he was clean.

‘He dropped out because of bullying, according to the suicide note.’

This meant that it wasn’t going to cause a problem with the debut.

But that specific ‘confirmation of name change’… Something about it bothered me.

‘I’ll have to look up the Internet as soon as I am done with this.’

“Oh~ they must have asked because your name is so unique!”

Feeling that there was nothing more to pick, the MC immediately wrapped up the question.

I waited for the filming to end, watching the other participants being asked questions.

* * *

I just found an in-depth SNS article on the Internet.

[I’m curious about what Moon Puppy had been doing, but I can’t find anything. No, maybe he’s an alien who changed his name]

‘This must have been the problem.’

It was a bit of a letdown.

Since the original account owner was a famous illustrator, it quickly became a meme in a short period of time. Although it was only within the fan community.

– (That… makes sense!)

– Since he’s serious about eating, he’s like an alien that has been sent to investigate the food culture of the Earth

– I saw dog’s ears on Moondae

It didn’t matter if people laughed while making these jokes, but the situation itself raised some doubts.

‘It’s not that I didn’t expect it to not come out at all.’

Park Moondae’s name and date of birth were written on his profile.

To be honest, I thought his high school life would be revealed during the broadcast.

At least something like, ‘I was in the same school, but he was a little weird’. I even expected words like ‘A child who dropped out of school after going around alone.’

These statements wouldn’t harm me. Rather, the fans would be relieved that I wasn’t the type to bully anyone since I was such a weakling at school.

‘Maybe because my impression has changed a lot.’

This conjecture seemed to make the most sense.

When I first came into this body, Park Moondae was skinny and had shaggy hair. In addition, a completely different person (me) came in, so the way of speaking, movement, and atmosphere would have changed.

But maybe someday a story would come out. I didn’t even use an alias.

‘I hope it comes out after the program is over.’

It would be difficult to see the smartphone until the live broadcast.

After filming the talk show, I went back to the dorm and returned the smartphone as usual.

‘Let’s just practice hard.’

Now there was only a week left until the final stage. There was no room for other thoughts.

…But even if there was no room for it, if there was a problem right away, I had no choice but to think about it.

It happened shortly after I noticed this.

* * *

It was two nights later that it happened.

While I was half dozing off and stuffing dinner into my mouth, an urgent call came from the production team.

From my experience so far, I thought I would get an interview cut. However, the atmosphere in the staff room was serious.

“Moondae-ssi.”

The writer who cast me in the karaoke room started talking in a tone that barely sounded concerned.

“On the Internet now… An article came up.”

“…Yes.”

I had a bad feeling.

The writer was even choosing her words in front of me as if she didn’t know how to say this.

I held out my hands, feeling a headache creeping in.

“May I just look at it myself?”

“Um, yes.”

The writer looked me up and down and handed me her phone.

I looked at the screen. A familiar interface appeared.

It was the community where controversy over Keun Sejin’s school bullying had been raised.

And at the top, I saw a title written in large font.

[Park Moondae’s reason for dropping out of high school: got caught stealing sanitary padsㅋㅋ]

“…”

What kind of bullshit is this?

I was stunned by the unexpected title.

It had been a long time since I felt like my head was clogged up.

I checked the contents with a brain that didn’t work due to the shock.

It has been revealed that Park Moondae is a graduate of Incheon Public High School, so I’ll skip the explanation. I graduated from that public high school, but I’m the same age as Park Moondae. I was in class 3 with Park Moondae, and he was a gloomy weird kid. Actually, I didn’t even know his name. I just knew he was Idol Inc. Park Moondae when I see him rising now.

Yes, but don’t be relieved after reading this farㅎㅎ ★ Park Moondae dropped out after getting caught stealing sanitary pads from a girl in the class ★

Even the girl whose sanitary pad was stolen dropped out shortly after because it turned into a strange rumor

And there are quite a lot of people who know this? It was such a mess, I wondered if there was going to be a school riot for a whileㅎ But Park Moondae dropped out and ran away!

I’ll verify my graduation album and school uniform in case you don’t believe me. But even if I don’t do this, the people who know it will keep coming out.

[Photo] [Photo] [Photo]

Below that, there were a series of top comments by netizens who self-proclaimed to graduate from Incheon Public High School and claimed to know the case.

“…”

A chill ran down my spine.

This… there was no answer.

Hitting someone or stealing money would be better than this. You stole a girl’s sanitary pad because you had nothing to steal?

Even if I met that kind of person in real life, I would have thought he was a hopeless bastard, but this happened to an idol audition participant.

“Have you read everything?”

I had read it, but I had nothing to say.

Isn’t Park Moondae crazy?

‘Did you commit such an idiotic thing and write down in your will that you feel unfair about being bullied?’

Yes, if he didn’t steal it, he must have felt it was unfair. But right now, is there a way to prove that this bastard didn’t steal it?

“…Yes.”

I managed to answer.

The writer didn’t uselessly mention whether it was ‘real’ or not.

“You’d better think about what to do right now.”

She meant to take care of it myself or get off.

I swallowed my saliva and answered.

“…Give me a minute, I’ll think about it and tell you…later.”

“Yes, please do it quickly.”

I couldn’t even speak properly.

I went back to the dorm in a state of madness. It was still time to practice, so the dorm room was empty.

I sat down on the bed because I was afraid that if I sat down on the desk, I would smash everything on the table.

And I tried to think as calmly as possible… Fu*ck, it sounded troublesome.

I hit the bed.

There was a dull ‘bam-bam’ sound, but it didn’t relieve my anger at all.

‘Am I going to die like this?’

What am I supposed to do with this sh*t?

You had locked me up in this flawed body while pretending it wasn’t the case and patronizing me with the help of leveling up, you had pushed pressure on me to make my debut within a year; all these things do not make sense to me unless you intending to spite me.

My head hurt. I should have had that damn Unmoving Heart characteristic.

‘Now… what do I do?’

What came after anger was, ironically, a deep sense of helplessness.

There was nothing I could do. Really.

Because I didn’t know anything.

If I had a smartphone, I would have searched… No, this was crazy.

I wasn’t going to look at public opinion, so this was how it ended.

No matter how much I lived without caring what others said, I couldn’t guarantee that I would be fine after seeing an unspecified number of people mainly pouring out criticism.

Besides…

‘…Those people.’

I wonder what the people who supported Park Moondae were feeling.

They spent their time and money, and would never have imagined that they would be stabbed in the back like this.

It was even more ridiculous that I didn’t do it. It was driving me crazy.

…It was the first time since I was an orphan that I felt so overwhelmed by the situation.

“…”

Should I give up?

Shortly after that thought crossed my mind, someone creaked open the door to the dorm room.

“T-There…”

“…”

I thought I showed superhuman patience just by not telling them to go away now.

I didn’t respond and continued to sit on the bed with my head down. It felt like my brain was boiling.

“Hey, Park Moondae.”

Then, the door burst open and Keun Sejin came in.

The rumors must have circulated already. It wasn’t strange that the quick-witted guy noticed it first.

“Are you serious about that?”

I don’t know.

I thought I didn’t answer, but it seemed that I couldn’t control my mouth due to extreme stress. That bastard responded.

“Why don’t you know? Are you really dropping out because of that?”

“Because I don’t know.”

I don’t know why you’re bothering me. Since there’s only the final left anyway, isn’t it better for me to get off?

“…You know you’re talking nonsense right now, right?”

I clenched my teeth.

“I don’t remember.”

“What?”

“F*ck. I woke up trying to commit suicide and I don’t remember anything. Are you happy now?”

Thud.

The sound of Seon Ahyeon, who stood awkwardly on the side, dropping the chocolate bar he was holding was loud.

I sighed. I unnecessarily told the truth.

At least, I should consider it a relief that I didn’t talk about changing my body and returning to the past. Even if said that I could see the status window, I couldn’t take it out, so I was either a mythomaniac or a psychopath.

No, what’s the use of all that now? If I didn’t solve this problem, I wouldn’t be able to debut within a year.

“R-R-Really…”

“Yeah, really.”

It was already difficult to stay calm, but you were making me use my energy for useless conversation.

“Since you already know… Leave it alone. I’ll take care of it.”

“…If you don’t even remember, how can you sort it out?”

“Get out.”

“If you don’t know anything, it’s better to have someone to discuss it with. You don’t even have an agency.”

“…”

That was true.

“It’s honestly hard to believe, but I don’t think you’d lie about something like this. Rumors about stealing sanitary pads are even weirder..”

“T-That’s right.”

“I don’t think a quick-calculating guy like you would do such a foolish thing.”

“…!! N-No… I-I don’t mean that, uh, t-that’s why…”

Seon Ahyeon was broken. Keun Sejin ignored Seon Ahyeon.

“Yeah. It would have been different if it was posted by the victim or her acquaintance. But looking at it, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“…”

My head cooled down a bit. I raised my head and looked at Keun Sejin.

Keun Sejin calmly sat on the floor on the opposite side.

I didn’t know why this guy was being meddlesome.

‘Anyway, you’re saying that you’re helping me.’

Still, it was surprising that it happened right before the final. I wasn’t in a position to care about this right now.

“First of all… Let’s say you don’t remember this incident. Do you remember what happened in high school?”

“I don’t remember anything about high school. When I came to my senses, there was only a suicide note in front of me.”

There was silence for a while.

“…Did you mention anything in your suicide note?”

“There was no specific mention of the incident itself. There was an expression of unfairness, but that’s something anyone can say at any time.”

“You’re so cold-hearted even to yourself.”

Keun Sejin smiled helplessly.

I wanted to snort, but I couldn’t afford to do so.

“T-There.”

Seon Ahyeon interrupted with difficulty.

“T-Then… F-Finding the party involved and confirming it… I-Is it difficult?”

“…”

You mean the girl who dropped out.

“If we’re filming now, there’s no time or chance to find it… If I drop out, I don’t know.”

…The more I spoke, the clearer the situation became.

It seemed that the survival rate was higher if I dropped out, turned off the urgent fire, and figured out the situation accurately.

“…D-Don’t.”

“What?”

“D-Don’t quit, l-let’s wait a l-little bit.”